Come Follow Me LDS- Matthew 16-17, Mark 8-9, Luke 9 Part 1
Mar 27, 2019
'Leaven, Seder & Keys'
- The Leaven of the Pharisees is Hypocrisy and loss of Christ
- The Seder is the Passover Meal
- The keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood are given to Simon Peter
Raw Transcript
all right in this episode we're going to
talk about leaven cedar with a passover
meal and keys here we go all right so
between moving and traveling we are
putting together a kind of a makeshift
studio here so just so that I didn't
have just a completely bland wall here
behind me quickly put up my custom Timmy
Patterson surfboard here Timmy made this
for me
several years ago for my build and for
the type of surfing that I like to do
and then a friend of mine a colleague of
mine that worked with me did the design
on this I've got some old wax on here
I've got to scrape that off and put some
new new wax on next time I get out there
with it but at least we've got some kind
of color here behind us now in this
episode we're going to talk mostly about
Matthew sixteen and there's a few of the
filters or lenses that we're gonna go
through that I like to use so we're
going to talk a lot about authorship in
this episode with Matthew we're going to
talk about the higher and lower law of
course which we do in almost every
episode and then thirdly we're going to
talk about the knee whore principle
which again is the corruption of the
idea of the Messiah that is that jehovah
will the gut you know God will come down
receive a body lower himself below all
men and women and take on the sins of
the world and take on all of our burdens
and our sicknesses etc or that it's not
going to happen at all right that there
is no Messiah in a sense of a real
Savior that saves us from
imperfections and that carries our sins
that is the knee whore principle we find
that very acutely here in Matthew 16 so
let's start reading here just from verse
1 and we can see how Matthew starts to
set up this chapter and as you read
through the scriptures you can see this
with all authors where they have again
these are written a long time after the
events take place and so there's a
narrative that is put together and
Matthew probably drawing from the same
source of of mark comes in and writes
this based on making sure that we
understand certain principles and to do
that he oftentimes will create a
narrative that shows a contrast and in
this case it's the Pharisees of the
Sadducees on one side with their
doctrine and then Jesus on the other
with the doctrine of Christ so in verse
1 he starts to set this up and he says
the Pharisees also with the Sadducees
came and tempting desired him that he
would show them a sign from heaven okay
so the way that this is set up is that
the Pharisees and the Sadducees want to
invert the process of personal growth
completely that is they want to say
forget about faith take us straight to
the sign straight to the reward straight
to the proof and evidence and then will
believe and so of course that's
completely contrary to the plan of
salvation because it takes all personal
growth away because our personal growth
is gained by learning to trust on true
principles and the truest principle of
all is the atonement the sacrifice of
the Messiah and so Matthew kind of goes
over that here verse two he answered and
said unto them unto the
Pharisees and Sadducees when it is
evening you say it will be fair weather
for the sky is red they asked for a sign
from heaven so he's responding talking
about the heavens and in the morning it
will be foul weather today for the sky
is red and lowering and he says o ye
hypocrites this is important and you
hear him say this a lot to the Pharisees
and the Sadducees in mark we include the
Herodians which are another Jewish set
in Jewish sect as well but he says o ye
hypocrites this is well we'll get to
that in a second you can discern the
face of the sky but can't you but can
you not discern the sign of the times so
he's saying that you're taking faith
away and as he follows through on this
he said he shows how that faith
ultimately ends up in the atoning
sacrifice of the Messiah and so they are
removing that they're taking all of that
away they have focused only on the lower
law that is just going to eat itself and
disintegrate because it has nothing to
look forward to in the atoning sacrifice
he says a wicked and adulterous
generation this is Jesus speaking
seeketh after a sign all right so again
an adulterous generation would be one
that does not keep its covenants so the
ideal or a great example of covenant
would be marriage and we have the
example oftentimes as we as we have
spoken of previously about Jesus as the
bridegroom and the church or the Jewish
nation in this case here which he is
referring to as who are the covenant
people as the bride and so an adulterous
generation would be one that does not
keep its covenants especially the cut
their covenants to God
and that covenant the Covenant the
atonement is focused on the sacrifice of
Jehovah coming down to earth receiving a
body being born of a woman and taking on
the sins of the world and dying and
being resurrected that's the whole crux
of the Covenant of that marriage between
us and him and so he says look there's
not any sign that's going to be given
but I except for the sign of Jonas well
of course the sign of Jonah or Jonas is
that he's going that Jesus is going to
die be crucified go through the agony of
taking on the sins of the world be dead
and buried for three days just as Jonah
was in the belly of a fish for three
days and then will rise again and be
resurrected
so Pharisees and Sadducees you have no
faith and you have no faith on the
atonement because you don't believe in
it and so the only sign I'm going to
give you is going to be the actual
fulfillment of the Covenant itself on my
end you would say and then remember this
is during the time of Passover and so he
follows up in verse five and he says and
when his disciples were come to the
other side they had forgotten to take
bread a lot of examples of bread then
jesus said unto them take heed and
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees okay so again this
is during Passover another name for
Passover is the feast of unleavened
bread so he's using the terminology of
Passover here to teach these lessons now
in Luke chapter 12 verse 1 we learned
that the leaven of the Pharisees and the
Sadducees is hypocrisy and so you
remember that just a few verses before
earlier here in the chapter Matthew says
that Jesus calls the Pharisees and the
Sadducees hypocrites right so that is
their doctrine that they are you think
of leaven in bread what does it do what
does yeast do with bread yet it makes it
rise it makes it puffy right it is
enlarges itself so to speak and so
that's kind of what he's saying about
the Pharisees and the Sadducees is that
they're what they do to make themselves
look better through their acts of all
these little obedient checklists that
control the people are basically
hypocrisy because that is not the law of
Moses that's not what the law of Moses
was designed for the ma law of Moses was
designed to have faith in what was
coming and to point you toward the
atonement of Jesus Christ so that's why
they're hypocrites because they are
taking the law of Moses and they are
puffing themselves up with it so to
speak and they are not looking forward
to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ
of the Messiah so Matthew takes that
point here and he contrasts it with
Jesus here's how he does this and they
reasoned among themselves to see these
are the disciples saying it is because
we have taken no bread which when Jesus
perceived he said unto them o ye of
little faith why reason ye among
yourselves because he have brought no
bread and then he goes over with him he
talks about what about the five thousand
I just fed why would that be a concern
for you and what about the four thousand
that I just fed and how many baskets did
we have leftover each time this is not a
concern this is not what I'm talking
about in other words stop thinking about
the lower physical law
and think about the higher spiritual law
of representation and symbolism in
principle that I am trying to teach you
so then as Jesus explains the feeding of
the five thousand the four thousand then
understood they that's the disciples
that he bade them not beware of the
leaven of bread but of the doctrine
listen now this phrases is put down by
Matthew here but of the doctrine of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees so the
way I see this chapter and looking at
authorship here with Matthew is that he
is contrasting the Pharisees and the
Sadducees who are Christ 'less with the
doctrine of Christ and so he says look
here is the doctrine of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees that is the leaven
that you need to beware of which is the
hypocrisy because the their hypocrisy
removes the atonement removes the
Messiah and his purpose from the plan of
salvation the core doctrine that Jehovah
has been trying to teach Israel for you
know fifteen hundred years sixteen
hundred years more so then so what
Matthew does here is he confirms this
this contrast between the doctrine of
Christ and the doctrine of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees by following up
immediately in saying as he asks his
disciples whom do men say that I am see
he has just set up what the doctrine of
the Pharisees and the Sadducees is no
faith no looking forward to what would
be the crux of the Covenant which is the
atoning sacrifice and then falls out
that up with saying who do men say that
I am in other words he is the Christ he
is the one who will fulfill the covenant
and they said being the disciples in
response some say that thou art John the
Baptist some Elias and others Jeremias
or one of the prophets so this is
interesting in the Gospels they go over
these three things basically they think
you're John the Baptist maybe some
people didn't know that John the Baptist
was beheaded already or maybe that he
was back from the dead or Elias who is
Elijah remember this is the time of
Passover and in the cedar meal the cedar
which is the Passover meal the Jews put
out a chair usually for Elijah and might
open the door at the latter part of the
cedar meal in awaiting Elijah to come in
and I think it's the fourth cup of wine
that is drank drunk drinkin is for
Elijah interestingly enough and we'll go
over this in a different a different
podcast episode but interestingly enough
in that example of the cedar where
they're waiting for Elijah to come in
what Elijah is going to do is he is
going to herald the coming of the
Messiah and so here you have a spirit of
Elijah or or really the Spirit of Elias
in Greek where Elijah is seen as the
forerunner to the Messiah so we're gonna
get a little bit more clarification in
the second episode this week as we go
over the Mount of Transfiguration where
Elias shows up there we'll talk about
this a little bit more and the third
option is is that he's one of the
prophets and he saith unto them but whom
say ye that I am and I love this part
that Jesus is putting here in and and
matthew has set up where he's remember
that after the four thousand people
would that were that were fed just just
just happened and
he talked to them about how his body was
the bread of life and that they needed
to partake of his body and that his
blood would need to be partake enough as
well and a lot of people couldn't
understand what he was saying but he
lost a lot of the followers at that
point they had left and here he is
asking his disciples who do you think
that I am you know maybe give me a
little assurity here because a number of
people have left the Pharisees and the
Sadducees that are here don't have the
proper doctrine of Christ so who do you
think that I am so Matthew setting up
that contrast and Matthew then says the
following in Simon Peter answered and
said thou art the Christ so you are the
Messiah the doctrine of Christ this is
about you thou art the Christ the Son of
the Living God
in other words you are Jehovah you are
God and you have come down to receive a
body being born of a woman and you are
going to take on the sins of the world
and be our Savior we go back to the
cedar meal where where the Jewish
expectations are where Elijah comes to
herald the Messiah what that really
means for them from what I've gathered
from Jewish friends is that they're
looking for the Messiah that's gonna
return them to the Land of Israel that's
kind of the primary belief and reign
there in a millennial state perhaps for
a kind of a utopian state of the Jewish
nation in Israel where Jesus here is not
about bringing them to a physical land
of promise but to a spiritual land
promised literally and of eternal
progression so then Jesus says and
answering him blessed art thou simon
barjona remember that peter's name is
Simon and it's Jesus that calls him
Peter so this is simon barjona which
means Simon son of Jonah
remember bar is means son in Aramaic so
they are likely speaking Aramaic in the
land of Judah which is the language that
they adopted from the Babylonians when
they were taken away into exile at the
time of Lehi around the time of Lehi so
they came back with Aramaic and actually
changed their alphabet to more match the
Aramaic Babylonian alphabet that they
had in squirt off alphabet that they had
in Babylon and he says blessed art thou
simon barjona for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee but my father
which is in heaven so first remember
Simon son of Jonah this is kind of in
response to comparison to the verse
before which Peter says to Jesus thou
art the Christ the Son of the Living God
and Jesus responds with Simon son of
Jonah blessed art thou for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee but
my father which is in heaven and so it's
the spirit that has revealed it to him
so what he's saying is he's not saying
it's bad that flesh and blood would
testify of him but he's saying blessed
art thou because you're getting a higher
law here you're getting the spirit in
other words you have been told this from
my from our Father in heaven and you've
received this through the spirit and
that is a greater truth that is a more
solid truth in terms of knowledge than
anything physical it's not archaeology
it's not science it's not anything
physical it is a spiritual confirmation
that you have received Peter and blessed
art thou for this and it's not that
those things are bad science
archaeology all of these things are
great but if we rely only on flesh and
blood to guide us in our truth then
we're only relying on the lower law and
we're missing out on true inspiration
and true on a greater truth especially
for our testimonies and our faith in in
Jesus Christ that's got to be guided
primarily through a spiritual knowledge
which is real and the greatest truth
that we can get and then Jesus says
having mentioned that this has been
revealed to Peter by the Spirit through
the hip through Heavenly Father he says
and I say also unto thee that thou art
Peter so now he calls in Peter yet just
called him Simon that thou art Peter and
upon this rock I will build my church
and the gates of Hell shall not prevail
against it so it's a wordplay right
because Peter again is yeah it means
Rock Peter like petrified something
that's been turned into and rock upon
this rock I will build my church wall
upon what rock he just talked about
revelation through the spirit now I
think that's only part of it most
latter-day saints know about this
scripture that it's not built on Peter
but the rock that is really being talked
it's just a play on words the rock that
is being talked about is revelation
however I think it goes beyond that
because this is where Jesus is going to
give the authority to Peter to run the
church and give him the keys of the
kingdom and keys of the priesthood to
run this and so again
as I have talked about previously we
might also think about the rock on the
Temple Mount so as we think about the
revelation here given to Peter you might
think about the revelation that you
would receive in the temple where the
Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of
Solomon would have been seated inside a
portion of the rock that was cut out of
the rock that was cut out and here you
have the tablets that were written on
with the hand of God and which is
revelation and and it would act for a
while the Ark of the Covenant acted as
the throne of God what they called the
mercy seat with the lid the Kinneret
that was on the top but later acted as
the footstool when the larger throne was
built that was behind the Ark of the
Covenant and upon this rock I will build
my church well that is the core it's the
Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon
because he follows up immediately with
it with revelation as the principle and
then says and I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven well the
Melchizedek Priesthood keys that is for
the fulfillment that the fullness of the
gospel would be centered in the temple
right the mckissick priesthood is
centered in the temple
imagine real quick is the diagram and
how the church is organized
we'll start with awards the wards are an
ironic priesthood organization in a
sense because the bishop is actually a
calling in the Iran ik priesthood right
he the bishop is the president of the
priests quorum an ironic priesthood
office and so that is the temporal side
and he's in charge of the money he's in
charge of tithing he's in charge of
welfare and the temporal needs and of
course he's also in charge of spiritual
needs through his Melchizedek Priesthood
he holds but the ward is an ironic
priesthood organization whereas the
steak is a Melchizedek Priesthood
organization so you have the higher and
the lower laws here why is it called a
steak sta ke
it's called a steak because the steaks
are pulled from the tabernacle the tent
at its ends right holding up the temple
so at the center of all of the steaks is
the tabernacle is the temple and at the
center of the temple is the Holy of
Holies where the Ark of the Covenant is
and the throne of God and so here we
talk about Peter and the the upon this
rock this will be built well when the
temple is built to replicate the
tabernacle the Ark of the Covenant sat
inside of the rock of the Temple Mount
and the rock was a very important thing
in Egypt you had the Ben Ben stone and
the Ben Ben stone was what first rose up
from the flood when the flood started to
recede
then it's the Ben Ben stone that first
showed up and so that's a representation
of the footstool usually and of the rock
if you will of the center of a temple
and here this is mentioned in
conjunction with the keys of the kingdom
of heaven which keys well he falls up
here and says and whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven
that's the Melchizedek Priesthood and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven the higher and
the lower laws here this is the
McKissack priesthood which holds both
and then he brings this principle up
that I think is very important and it
has to do with what we have discussed
previously
we might call it the Platinum rule
instead of the golden rule this is
another example of that he says then
said Jesus unto his disciples If any man
will come after me let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me for
whosoever will save his life shall lose
it and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it for what is a man
profited if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul or what
shall a man give in exchange for his
soul I think that's really interesting
again what this brings to that last
phrase there what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul that is a piercing
question to me what would you give up
what would you give for your soul what
would you give up for your soul or what
is the price of your soul you might say
this is something that gets put square
into as we have discussed the spiritual
economy what is the price what is the
exchange that is going to take place for
you to give up your soul which sin which
vice which temptation is worth the trade
so going back up to verse 24 where he
says let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me so wait a minute
here why are we taking up a cross he's
saying if you're going to give up your
life for me then take up your cross and
follow me
what does that mean is it just something
saying that may have a hard life what is
he saying here I've again I think this
is part of the spiritual economy that
sometimes gets lost in teachings in the
church from my experience and that is is
that
as we look at the very different roles
that Christ plays one is that he is our
Savior and he is our God but he is other
things also for example he is our
mediator and we need him as a mediator
because we need another step between us
and the father and so he is lowering
himself from the status of where his
father is in a sense to become the
mediator between us and our Heavenly
Father so he's a mediator he would that
would also make him an advocate for us
in the spiritual economy because he
takes on our sins and he's paid for
those sins but he's also our brother and
that's different from being our God in
other words he's one of us in a sense
right he's one of us he's the best of us
but he's one of us and that makes it I
think more special and more true and the
way it just seems to have to be that
it's one of us one of Heavenly Father's
children that becomes the savior of the
world and the mediator but as a brother
in that role in that title I also see
him as an example and so as an example
as we take up our cross in other words
we are to be like him we don't distance
ourselves from him in the sense that
it's just worship of him and it's just
faith in Him but it's also we are to be
like him so in other words we are
supposed to be saviors and were asked to
be saviors several times in the
scriptures where we are to act as Christ
and what did he do what is the cross
for him well he's willing to give up his
life for us he's willing to give up
everything for us but what that means is
as I see it is that he is willing to
take upon him the responsibility for our
eternity for our eternal life he takes
on that responsibility and he does that
by taking on our burdens
that's what mercy is right remember we
talked about mercy as a payment that's
to atone for something is to have mercy
for something so when you have mercy for
someone you are giving something to them
it is payment to them because you're
accepting their burden you're sharing in
it you're putting that on your back and
carrying it so as he did that for us
but his cross you know if we're gonna
carry our cross that means that we are
going to be someone who takes on the
responsibility of those around us and
through charity and the pure love of
Christ have mercy for them meaning that
we are willing to take on the
responsibility for the well-being the
spiritual well-being of family of
friends of strangers and carry their
burdens just as we promised we do when
we get baptized when we are doing that
when we get baptized
we are exemplifying or taking on the
example of Jesus Christ who took on our
burdens we need to be just like him I
believe that's what he is saying there
and that is our part our participatory
part in the spiritual economy that is
give us and it's the opportunity of the
spiritual economy that we're given to
become like the safety
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